Attorney Dane Ciolino said the October 2007 payment was an interest-free loan from River Birch owner Fred Heebe, who is under federal investigation for allegedly bribing a former state official to lobby for closure of Old Gentilly.

Ciolino said Robinette has not paid back any of the money but plans to do so by the end of October when the loan matures.

From 2006 until at least May 2007, Robinette frequently raised environmental concerns on his show about disposing of hurricane debris at Old Gentilly, a former city dump in eastern New Orleans that reopened two months after Katrina.

Robinette declined an interview request made through Ciolino, who said Robinette would address the issue Tuesday on his show, which airs from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on 870 AM.

Ciolino said Robinette told Entercom Corp., WWL's Pennsylvania-based owner, about the money from Heebe after federal authorities notified Robinette that they had discovered the monetary transfer during an investigation of River Birch.

An Entercom spokesman said it was unlikely the company would be able to comment on Monday because of the Labor Day holiday.

Ciolino said Robinette was questioned several times by investigators late last year. He said federal authorities told Robinette that he is not a target of the investigation and asked Robinette not to speak publicly about the matter.

The payment to Robinette, first reported Saturday in The Times-Picayune, came as Heebe and his associates were trying to shut down the Old Gentilly Landfill and the Chef Menteur Landfill -- both of which were opened in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to deal with the huge volume of trash.

At least $175 million in disposal fees for at least 38 million cubic yards of hurricane debris were in play after the storm, and the two upstarts were the main competitors to Heebe's Waggaman landfill.

Former state Wildlife and Fisheries Commissioner Henry Mouton pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy for accepting more than $460,000 in bribes from an unidentified landfill owner to lobby for the closure of Old Gentilly.

Prosecutors haven't identified the landfill owner, but public documents suggest it is Heebe or his stepfather, Jim Ward, neither of whom has been charged with a crime.

Federal authorities also are investigating River Birch's $160 million, 25-year garbage disposal contract with Jefferson Parish. The 2009 contract, which the parish is trying to rescind, would require the parish to close its competing dump next door.

Heebe has repeatedly declined to comment on the investigation through his attorney.

Ciolino said Heebe is a friend of Robinette's. He loaned the money from one of his companies to Robinette's wife, Nancy Rhett, Ciolino said. He said the loan was structured that way because Rhett owns a vacant lot in St. Tammany Parish that was used as collateral.

He said the couple has signed documents that spell out the terms of the interest-free loan, which was to be repaid within four years.

Ciolino said he did not know the location of the lot. But online records for the St. Tammany Parish Assessor's Office indicate Rhett owns one piece of property in the parish, a vacant lot at 7 Riverdale Drive in Tchefuncta Club Estates, a gated community with a golf course near Covington.

Ciolino said the couple was having trouble selling the lot and accepted the loan from Heebe with the understanding that it would be paid back once the property was sold.

Various real estate websites indicate the wooded lot had been for sale with a listing price of $248,900. Records show Rhett bought the property -- which is not currently listed for sale -- for $235,000 in late 2005.

Robinette, an avid painter, used at least some of the money to build an art studio, Ciolino said.